A quieter Guy Fawkes pleases Fire Service

One of the quietest Guy Fawkes nights on record has the Fire Service praising the responsible attitude to fireworks shown by New Zealanders.

Between 7pm last night and 4am this morning, the Fire Service responded to 154 fire related calls – a significant reduction on the 245 callouts on Guy Fawkes night last year and the 408 in 2005.

Fire Service Acting National Commander, Paul McGill, said it was lowest number of calls received on their traditionally busiest time of the year since official records began in 1996.

“While there were still incidents of irresponsible use of fireworks, these were isolated and overall we’re encouraged by how Kiwi’s have heeded the call for a more responsible attitude to fireworks safety,” said Mr McGill.

“The wet weather in some areas may have made a difference, but certainly the rule changes introduced by the government this year would have been a contributor to the relatively low number of calls.”

Over the 10 day fireworks sales period last year, the Fire Service took 2,404 fire related calls. This year, with the rule change reducing the sales period to four days and with the increase in the age of purchase to 18 years, there were just over a thousand calls – a drop of 150%.

The Fire Service will now analyse the data, review fire reports and meet with its partners Police, ERMA and Ministry for the Environment to formerly assess the Guy Fawkes period before reporting back to government.

ENDS

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